Democrat committee to pick Jefferson County judge candidate

View full sizeLawyers, from left, Peter Johnson Davis, Elisabeth Liz French, Tamara Harris Johnson and Nicole Still all are seeking to replace Kenya Lavender Marshall as the Democratic Party's nominee for the Jefferson County Place 17 Civil Circuit Court judicial nominee. There is no Republican candidate on the Nov. 2 general election ballot for the post. (Birmingham News file photos)

Top state Democratic Party officials are set today to name the person who is likely to serve a six-year term as a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge starting in January.

The State Democratic Executive Committee will meet in Montgomery today at 3 p.m. to decide whether to uphold a subcommittee's decision to remove Kenya Lavender Marshall from the Nov. 2 ballot for the Place 17 Circuit Court seat.

If the committee vacates the nomination, it will elect her successor.

Since no Republican qualified, the Democrat nominee is likely to win the post presiding over larger civil cases in Birmingham.

Marshall became ineligible to serve as a judge when her law license was suspended for four years, after she admitted charges by the Alabama State Bar that she misappropriated some $30,000 of a client's money in her lawyer trust account.

Sitting judges must be licensed to practice law in Alabama. Democratic Party bylaws also require that candidates must meet the qualifications for the position they seek, said Joe Turnham, Alabama Democratic Party chairman.

Kenya Lavender Marshall agreed Monday to a four-year suspension of her law license.

A party subcommittee ruled Aug. 13 that Marshall's nomination should be rescinded because of what was then an interim suspension by the state bar.

The next day, the party's executive committee debated a motion to uphold the decision. But it tabled a vote until today to give Marshall time to resolve the issue over her law license.

She agreed to the license suspension on Monday.

Four people have expressed interest in the nomination:

--Judge Nicole "Nikki" Still, who finished second in both the primary and runoff. Still, 39, was appointed to the post in 2009. Before that, she practiced civil law for 12 years.

--Peter Johnson Davis, who finished third in the primary. Davis, 46, has been a lawyer 14 years in civil and church-law cases. He worked before with the Birmingham Police Department and was a substitute teacher.

--Tamara Harris Johnson, who was Birmingham city attorney under then-Mayor Bernard Kincaid and now handles mostly criminal and appellate cases.Johnson, 55, has practiced law for 32 years including as civil counsel, a prosecutor, a trial attorney for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and an assistant general counsel for three labor unions. She also is a Jefferson County Personnel Board hearing officer.

--Elisabeth French, whose law practice focuses on personal injury and domestic relations cases. French, 37, has been a lawyer 13 years in both general and complex civil litigation, and civil rights cases.

Both groups cited Still's second-place finish in the primary and runoff.

Still and Davis both have said it would be unfair if the party chose to nominate someone who did not run during the primary -- in this case Johnson or French.

But state party bylaws do not limit who can be considered if a party nomination is vacated before the election. The state committee also has the discretion to choose its candidate without voters having a say, according to party bylaws.

If Marshall's candidacy is vacated today, the State Democratic Executive Committee will take nominations for a replacement, which must be seconded, Turnham said.

The nominator will have two minutes to speak and the nominee will have three minutes to speak before a vote is taken. The committee will continue to vote until someone wins a majority, Turnham said.